It has been full steam ahead for OU since bursting out of Beijing in 2020. Having captured the world’s ear with their debut album, they’re certain to capture their hearts with their sophomore album 蘇醒II: Frailty (reviewed ). On the eve of that album’s release The Midlands Rocks spoke with the band’s drummer Anthony Vanacore to speak all things OU.

For those unfamiliar with OU, can you give us a brief history of the band. How did you all meet etc.?

I’ve known Jing [Zhang, guitars] and Chris [Cui, bass] for quite a few years now. We used to play in a lot of other different bands and projects together. Around 2018 I approached them with some compositions I asked if they would be down to lay down some tracks for. They were into it and after the instrumental tracks were completed we needed to find a singer to sing the vocal melodies. We got really lucky in that Lynn [Wu] was the first singer to come in and she really killed it laying down the vocal melodies. After those songs were done we realized we had something very special in our hands and we decided to make an album out of it. We proceeded to write four more songs and album one was completed. Around 2020 OU was officially born. 

People in the West might be surprised to learn that there’s a metal scene in Beijing. As a band, what are the advantages and disadvantages originating in China?

I guess the disadvantages might be there’s not as much attention to what’s going on here creatively from the western world, but I think that is slowly changing. The advantage might be that with what it means to be from here, the result of what you’re doing is probably going to be a little different than what would have been created in the western world, and that might yield some interesting results. 

What are the musical influences of each band member? How do these influences fit together to create your sound?

We come from an extremely eclectic musical world. Everything from metal to jazz to experimental, to pop to etc. etc. etc. The music is written in the most organic way possible. We try to not to force anything or come to it with any preconceptions or notions of how it should be. 

Your sound is a mixture of metal, electronica, prog (and more). How would you categorise your sound?

 I have no idea how to categorise it and I would rather leave it that way. 

 What is your songwriting process?

A lot ideas come from playing on the piano or keyboard, chord progressions, motives, etc. Melodies often come from singing or humming, or imagining them. Drum parts are often constructed singing and breathing with the music as it’s being created. 

You will release your second album II: Frailty on 26th April 2024. How do you feel about it now that it recorded and ready for release? Anything you’d like to go back and change?

I couldn’t be more happy with it. I think everything happened the way it was supposed to happen and I wouldn’t change anything. Nothing is ever perfect, but I think it’s perfect in whatever ways it may be imperfect. I’m grateful that it’s a reality now. An album like this, during the process a million things could derail it and you’d lose it. Somehow it became a reality and it’s almost miraculous if you ask me. 

How do you feel you have evolved as musicians and songwriters since your debut album?

I’m not sure, you just take creation as it comes, it’s not something that can be forced, things get written and created during periods of your life that could only be the way it was during that time. There are things on the first album that I absolutely love that I’m not sure I could I create now with the same level of intent or capability or whatever, likewise, there are many things on album two I certainly wasn’t capable of creating when I was at that point in my life during album one. I guess it’s a tough question to answer…but you hope that whatever you do, with music that is as meaningful as this is to me, that it is always honest, I guess that’s the only thing that matters. 

The new album features production duties and guest appearances by Devin Townsend. What was it like working with such a legendary musician? Were you able to exchange ideas with him, or were you in awe?

It was one of the great honors or my life to work with Devin. He’s an inspiring artist to work with, and even more than that he’s one of the sweetest cats on earth. Yes we exchanged a lot of ideas and yes I was in awe the entire time. 

Aside from your unique sound, the band also has a strong visual aesthetic. From where do you draw inspiration for the band’s image and promo videos?

A lot of the visual creativity comes from Lynn in terms of the style she wants to have in the way she prepares what she wears for the videos, pics etc. The videos we give some general direction but leave most of it up to the directors of the videos. There’s an amazing designer here in Beijing named Yooowen, who designed both albums one and two, again we just gave a little bit of direction, but let her come up with the rest. 

Finally, how do you plan to promote the album? Can we expect to see you in the UK anytime soon?

The album will be on all the major platforms! There will also be CDs and vinyl available and merchandise. We have a website: OUtheband.com and our social media accounts on Instagram and Facebook are OU.theband, which can be followed to keep up with all our updates as they come! If you search OU, I think the music videos pop right up now! Thank you for your support!!!

Connect with OU on: Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Official Website